Don't Fight Google or Facebook, Fight for Lunch

In this episode, I have an important lesson to share from a new friend of mine in the digital marketing space on the power of Facebook and Google. Eric Laylon is a consultant with ReachLocal. He understands the online landscape more than almost anyone that I know. He's a new member of the MCBA networking group and had a chance to share a presentation on his work. I asked many questions as I wanted to understand a little more of the trends he's seeing in 2021.

• Google drives 85% of all online traffic and still dominates the online search landscape. Bing is #2 because Comcast uses them as a default, but they use Google ad platforms. Google will continue to dominate. If you're not visible on Google, you're not visible.

• Google My Business is a free way to create SEO for your business through images, reviews, articles, and deals. Ads are an excellent paid option to generate leads.

• Eric says you should be investing 3-5% of revenue into marketing for average returns. 8% is aggressive and 3% is slow growth. Invest 60-70% of this marketing budget on digital. This is what the large companies are doing in 2021!

• Facebook is similar to google. They have 223 million users in the United States alone out of 331 million people. That's 67% of the US is on Facebook. A business page is free and allows you to create interest for your product or service for free. Ads (like Google) are an excellent paid option as well.

Thank you Eric for teaching and sharing the trends and stats for 2021! My takeaway is simple. If you ever want to be found in your cleaning business, you have to be on Facebook and Google as they represent 67% of the country and 85% of all online searches. And you can access both for free through a Facebook business page, personal page, Google my business profile.

That was quick and to the point! Let's dive more into my own solo cleaning business. I have used digital marketing to grow my solo cleaning company in 2020. I tried everything, but focused on Facebook and Google My Business digitally while attending local networking to round out my marketing strategy. I didn't use any paid advertising and grew my company by $60,000 in revenue in 2020. Going forward, I plan to continue. I did get an idea this past week that I had originally planned in 2019 and never did it. I am the only cleaner in a 300 - 400 member chamber of commerce. Many members know who I am now since I've been helpful in leading webinars for the chamber, but I figured that the majority do not know me. I could cold call them and try to fleece them for business. I don't operate like that. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll make a list of the members that have an office that is a good fit for my office cleaning company. These are buildings under 5,000 - 6,000 square feet that need cleaning weekly or less. Once I have the list completed, I'll send emails with personal videos to the owners or contacts through the chamber to say hi and introduce myself. From there, I'll see who has any interest in connecting more with me. I'll schedule Zoom calls or breakfast meetings with the ones who want to know me. Then I'll add these new friends to my twice-monthly newsletter. I am guessing that 150 of the members fit into my demographic out of 400. Out of the 150, I wouldn't be surprised if I can connect and add 30 to my newsletter. Who knows from there. Those 30 could be 10 clients at $500 - $800/month in the future, which is over $60,000 of annual revenue! Either way, I make new friends. Win-win.

I attended the 2nd Total Life Freedom Philly Meet-Up in King of Prussia a few weeks ago! I encourage you to check out "Allow a Giver to Give",  where I shared how John Stange paid for our lunch last time. I was determined to pay for this one, but I was thwarted! I told Stange early on that I'm getting this one and he said fine. Then I called the waiter over and said, "I'd pay the bill." He said, "Someone called in and paid for the meal already". Some other giver got to lunch first! How? Shortly after, John Schuchman stole away to the bathroom and attempted to pay (he admitted later). He was thwarted too. Then the hostess came over and said this. "I have some good news. Someone called in the restaurant and said to pay for the table with the guy with the hat." She pointed to Schuchman. Schuchman is positive that I paid, since he listens to this podcast and I told you all in that episode that I would find a way to pay! The whole table thought Schuchman paid as the waitress pointed to him as the "guy with the hat". Here's the kicker. I didn't pay and neither did he. It was a big game of Pay for Lunch Clue. There were 5 at the table. John Stange paid last time and I told him that I was paying. He said fine. It wasn't him unless he paid already and didn't mention that to me. I didn't pay, although I tried! Schuchman didn't pay, although he tried. Desha didn't pay as she was brand new to TLF and didn't even know about the Pay for Lunch Clue game we were playing. Then there's Emily Brunner. She lives the closest to King of Prussia. She picked the restaurant. She made the reservations and she didn't say a word the whole time we were trying to figure it out. Except at the end, she said it wasn't her. Just like in real Clue, every one of the people at the table highly suspected another but no one could prove it. Then came the wildcard. What's the deal with the hat? John is a member of a local church and the hat was part of the men's group. There could have been another member at the restaurant that day, saw the man with the hat, and decided to get the tab. That's possible, yet unlikely. There's also Vincent Pugliese, the leader of TLF. He is conveniently in Florida with an air-tight alibi. But could he have called in the payment with 5 members from his mastermind at the same place? He's a huge giver and a very likely and suspicious theory. John Stange asked, "Does Vincent know we're here?" We quickly came to the determination that Vincent did know we were going to lunch and he knew the location. We asked him afterward and got nothing. As of the recording of this podcast, the anonymous bill-paying phone call is unknown! And all I wanted to do was pay for lunch. This is what life is like when you hang out with successful, giving entrepreneurs. We fight over who gets the privilege of paying. Or maybe that's why they are successful. They are givers! 

Let me tie this all together now. Stop Fighting Facebook and Google. Make lots of money from your cleaning business and you can play Pay-for-Lunch Clue!